Hideo Kojima’s photo with cartoonist Zerocalcare triggered a wave of attacks in Türkiye, forcing the deletion of the image and the issuing of an apology.
Hideo Kojima likes few things more than take photos with film, music and television personalities; artists who, in many cases, later work with him.
The last of these images shows him next to Zerocalcare, nickname of Michele Rech; a famous Italian cartoonist; in addition to being responsible for the Netflix series Cut along the dotted line and this world won’t make me a bad person.
A photo motivated by the admiration of Zerocalcare in relation to the author of Death Stranding 2; but this led to political conflict and a public apology.
Kojima apologizes for his photo with Zerocalcare
In a statement from X, Kojima Productions apologized for the image showing Hideo Kojima with Zerocalcare.
“We would like to clarify the facts regarding the photograph”the message begins. “There is no personal or professional relationship between the two individuals.. The photo was taken briefly at the Lucca Comics & Games store after a brief introduction by an acquaintance.”
The statement emphasizes that “Neither Mr. Kojima nor KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS had prior knowledge or understanding of Mr. Kojima’s works or political positions. There was no intention to express agreement or support for any specific position or opinion.”.
The controversy is due to the fact that, in the deleted image, Kojima holds a Japanese copy of Kobane Callingthe comic book by Zerocalcare, about the resistance of the Kurdish people against ISIS.
The book chronicles the struggle of Kurdish defenders of Rojava’s YPG in Kobane in 2015. The problem is that Türkiye, which has had regular conflicts with the Kurds, sees the situation differently.
The YPG is considered a terrorist organization in Türkiyeand is accused of recruiting child soldiers; a practice that, in fact, Metal Gear Solid 5 denounced.
Immediately, Turkish forums and channels accused Kojima: “We will not give you a single lira for your games”, “you met with a terrorist” any “You exhausted your Turkish fans.” were some of the messages.
Zerocalcare has no terrorist links and traveled to Kobane to document its work. His reaction was complete stupor, but he tries to justify it due to the language barrier.
The irony is that Sniper Wolf, one of Kojima’s most iconic characters, proudly belonged to the Kurdish people. But it seems like it’s been raining a lot since Metal Gear Solid…
In Kojima’s defense, it must be said that it was Zerocalcare who asked him for the photo. But in this global age, Even a gesture of admiration can have unexpected consequences.
Get to know how we work in HobbyConsoles.
About The Author
